Poetry competition CLOSED 9th July 2021 11:17pm
WINNER
Ahavati (Tams)
Ahavati (Tams)
RUNNER-UP:
The_Silly_Sibyl
Pride and Deconstructed Prejudice
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Anonymous said:<< post removed >>
If you’re asking me and other people to write from the perspective of someone who doesn’t believe that LGBT people should have equal rights under the law, and should therefore be treated as second-class citizens, and try to elicit sympathy for that perspective, I think it’s only fair that you try something similar from the opposite end.
Also, your commentary on your uncle and the Masterpiece Bakery case is misleading. Whether deliberately or not, I’ll let people decide for themselves. Your uncle didn’t refuse to “customize a wedding cake for a gay wedding.” He outright refused to sell a gay couple a cake for use in a gay wedding. Here’s what actually happened, taken from an article about the case:
“Craig and Mullins expressed interest in getting a cake for their wedding from Phillips. Phillips declined to make the cake, telling the couple that “I’ll make your birthday cakes, shower cakes, sell you cookies and brownies, I just don’t make cakes for same sex weddings.”[4] The parties disagree about whether Craig and Mullins asked about getting a custom-made wedding cake (as opposed to, say, a premade cake).[5] However, it is uncontested that Craig and Mullins did not mention anything about how they might want the cake designed.[6] Upon Phillips’ refusal, Craig and Mullins “left the shop without further discussion.”[7]*
* https://harvardcrcl.org/why-you-cant-sell-your-cake-and-control-it-too-distinguishing-use-from-design-in-masterpiece-cakeshop-v-colorado/
Frankly, I find it suspicious that you had the idea for this competition during Pride Month, when a couple of Pride-focused threads have been prominent in the forums. Should your family have received threats or any sort of harassment? Of course not. Your uncle’s view is bigoted, but holding a prejudice doesn’t make you a wholly bad person deserving of abuse. However, I’m not going to write you a poem justifying to you the belief that LGBT people are less human than straight people, which is the argument being made when you oppose equal rights. And frankly I would ask that people consider your motives and research the case themselves before participating in this contest.
If you’re asking me and other people to write from the perspective of someone who doesn’t believe that LGBT people should have equal rights under the law, and should therefore be treated as second-class citizens, and try to elicit sympathy for that perspective, I think it’s only fair that you try something similar from the opposite end.
Also, your commentary on your uncle and the Masterpiece Bakery case is misleading. Whether deliberately or not, I’ll let people decide for themselves. Your uncle didn’t refuse to “customize a wedding cake for a gay wedding.” He outright refused to sell a gay couple a cake for use in a gay wedding. Here’s what actually happened, taken from an article about the case:
“Craig and Mullins expressed interest in getting a cake for their wedding from Phillips. Phillips declined to make the cake, telling the couple that “I’ll make your birthday cakes, shower cakes, sell you cookies and brownies, I just don’t make cakes for same sex weddings.”[4] The parties disagree about whether Craig and Mullins asked about getting a custom-made wedding cake (as opposed to, say, a premade cake).[5] However, it is uncontested that Craig and Mullins did not mention anything about how they might want the cake designed.[6] Upon Phillips’ refusal, Craig and Mullins “left the shop without further discussion.”[7]*
* https://harvardcrcl.org/why-you-cant-sell-your-cake-and-control-it-too-distinguishing-use-from-design-in-masterpiece-cakeshop-v-colorado/
Frankly, I find it suspicious that you had the idea for this competition during Pride Month, when a couple of Pride-focused threads have been prominent in the forums. Should your family have received threats or any sort of harassment? Of course not. Your uncle’s view is bigoted, but holding a prejudice doesn’t make you a wholly bad person deserving of abuse. However, I’m not going to write you a poem justifying to you the belief that LGBT people are less human than straight people, which is the argument being made when you oppose equal rights. And frankly I would ask that people consider your motives and research the case themselves before participating in this contest.
Anonymous
... Sorry, I’m not even wasting time sitting on the fence on this one. This is just jokes.
Actually, I’ve changed my mind. I think it’s a brilliant idea. Here’s my poem:
Elegy for a Christian Baker
Brandon Teena was a trans man
who in 1993
was raped and ripped apart.
But that’s just fine with me.
Matthew Shepard was a gay man
who in 1998
was pistol-whipped and tortured to death.
But I’m above such hate.
I heard his blood was cleansed by tears.
I heard they tied him to a fence.
I read that years
before, as a teenager on tour
in Morocco, he was beaten and raped.
His and Teena’s bodies
were the canvasses on which
the Christian way of love was drawn.
But I’m facing my own dark dawn...
I’ve been told that I must sell a cake.
***
Another telling quote from the article linked to above, by the way:
“At the time Phillips made these refusals, as now, Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in places of public accommodation, such as a bakery.[12] Craig and Mullins decided to file a discrimination complaint in Colorado against Phillips, stating that they had been denied “full and equal service” due to their sexual orientation.[13] The Colorado Civil Rights Division opened an investigation. The investigator assigned found a half-dozen other instances of Phillips “turning away customers on the basis of their sexual orientation, stating that he could not create a cake for a same-sex wedding ceremony or reception.”[14] This included refusing to sell cupcakes to a same-sex couple for their recommitment ceremony because the bakery “had a policy of not selling baked goods to same-sex couples for this type of event.”[15]”
I would encourage you to read the article in full. Basic Googling reveals so much.
Elegy for a Christian Baker
Brandon Teena was a trans man
who in 1993
was raped and ripped apart.
But that’s just fine with me.
Matthew Shepard was a gay man
who in 1998
was pistol-whipped and tortured to death.
But I’m above such hate.
I heard his blood was cleansed by tears.
I heard they tied him to a fence.
I read that years
before, as a teenager on tour
in Morocco, he was beaten and raped.
His and Teena’s bodies
were the canvasses on which
the Christian way of love was drawn.
But I’m facing my own dark dawn...
I’ve been told that I must sell a cake.
***
Another telling quote from the article linked to above, by the way:
“At the time Phillips made these refusals, as now, Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in places of public accommodation, such as a bakery.[12] Craig and Mullins decided to file a discrimination complaint in Colorado against Phillips, stating that they had been denied “full and equal service” due to their sexual orientation.[13] The Colorado Civil Rights Division opened an investigation. The investigator assigned found a half-dozen other instances of Phillips “turning away customers on the basis of their sexual orientation, stating that he could not create a cake for a same-sex wedding ceremony or reception.”[14] This included refusing to sell cupcakes to a same-sex couple for their recommitment ceremony because the bakery “had a policy of not selling baked goods to same-sex couples for this type of event.”[15]”
I would encourage you to read the article in full. Basic Googling reveals so much.
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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1. Disagreeing with you isn’t intolerance.
2. Your voice hasn’t been taken away. Your uncle managed to write a book and appeal to the Supreme Court (which overturned the original ruling) just fine.
3. Asking people to not just believe everything you say and do their own research isn’t intolerance, either. Should we just accept your statements at face value and not question them at all?
4. The gay couple could have indeed “gone elsewhere,” just like all the other gay people your uncle turned away did. The point, however, is that as a business your uncle discriminated against someone on the basis of sexual orientation, which you can’t expect to do without legal challenge. If a bakery refused to sell baked goods to a Christian couple purely because they’re Christians, that would also be wrong.
5. Your beliefs about what marriage is are irrelevant. Everyone should have the same legal rights regardless of sex, sexuality, colour, or creed. If you believe that a gay marriage isn’t a real marriage, that’s absolutely fine. That marriage should still have the right to exist legally, however. A racist might think that interracial marriages aren’t real, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be allowed under law.
6. My god, man, use paragraphs! Your comments are a chore to read. God invented the ability to divide texts into smaller chunks for a reason
2. Your voice hasn’t been taken away. Your uncle managed to write a book and appeal to the Supreme Court (which overturned the original ruling) just fine.
3. Asking people to not just believe everything you say and do their own research isn’t intolerance, either. Should we just accept your statements at face value and not question them at all?
4. The gay couple could have indeed “gone elsewhere,” just like all the other gay people your uncle turned away did. The point, however, is that as a business your uncle discriminated against someone on the basis of sexual orientation, which you can’t expect to do without legal challenge. If a bakery refused to sell baked goods to a Christian couple purely because they’re Christians, that would also be wrong.
5. Your beliefs about what marriage is are irrelevant. Everyone should have the same legal rights regardless of sex, sexuality, colour, or creed. If you believe that a gay marriage isn’t a real marriage, that’s absolutely fine. That marriage should still have the right to exist legally, however. A racist might think that interracial marriages aren’t real, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be allowed under law.
6. My god, man, use paragraphs! Your comments are a chore to read. God invented the ability to divide texts into smaller chunks for a reason
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
Anonymous said:<< post removed >>
1. Mmkay... Marriage didn’t originate in the Christian faith. The first recorded instance of marriage was in Mesopotamia and Babylonia in approximately 2350 BC. It wasn’t until the 12th century that the Roman Catholic Church formally defined marriage as a sacrament, sanctioned by God.
2. Your prejudice is showing. And it’s not pretty. That’s the joke. Not the love between two human beings.
3. 1 Timothy 5:8 — But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Sincerely,
Your local Pagan Queer.
1. Mmkay... Marriage didn’t originate in the Christian faith. The first recorded instance of marriage was in Mesopotamia and Babylonia in approximately 2350 BC. It wasn’t until the 12th century that the Roman Catholic Church formally defined marriage as a sacrament, sanctioned by God.
2. Your prejudice is showing. And it’s not pretty. That’s the joke. Not the love between two human beings.
3. 1 Timothy 5:8 — But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Sincerely,
Your local Pagan Queer.
Anonymous
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